We cut the cord 2-3 years ago when DirectTV support gave us fits, and don't miss it much. Ripped the kids DVD's to an old small form factor pc re-purposed as a media server with new hard drive and mild graphics card upgrade. Got a Neflix subscription for movies streaming through that same server. Put up a real antenna to pull in the networks, mainly to follow the local sports teams in gorgeous HD (better than cable). Occasionally rent a DVD from Redbox. The 3-4 times a year a great movie comes out, we go see in in the theater (Hollywood has been on a dry spell lately).
I do miss a few channels, Science, Discovery, History, H&G, and our daughter loved Animal Planet. Notice you can't get these without going to upper tier plans. I'd gladly pay them $20/ month for just those 4, but no way are we ever paying $60+ for a bunch of channels we don't watch again.
Unfortunately if I was to purchase an iPad, my choice is GPS or No GPS. I'm good with just wifi otherwise. Maybe someone will build an Android tablet with a really high quality GPS receiver and wifi? Bonus points if possible to use an external antenna.
While their at it... buy Sony, break it up, and sell of the pieces!!! (Note - stated in jest, did not actually check market caps, cash etc. to see if even possible).
Lets face it, this is a really slimy business model. For Apple to allow it is atrocious. There are much better alternatives, such as a short window to allow returns. I have kids with iOS devices, and thus hoping they win. Bad parenting? I don't have time to play every game to know its business model, but do try to stick to pay only games just to try my best to avoid them.
"Gaming has some bonus." - Except they were not able to get most to actually play. Personally I have yet to find a flash game I want to play. I have found some rather nice Java games however.
This is a very broad subject but two things stand out in my mind, the percent of economy that represents manufacturing, and secondly that society has a system to highly train everyone for a skilled job in the workforce.
Germany has kept its manufacturing base at 24% of its economy, while the US has slowly slid to 11%. Today they have the second best trade ratio behind only China. Some believe this is mainly due to having primarily mid size family owned businesses that are stakeholders, instead of corporations.
In the US getting skilled education past high school is getting very expensive, going up much faster than inflation. There is not a solid system for skilled technical or vocational training like other (mainly European) countries.
As the article noted, using such a huge die was strategic decision to differentiate their products. Have read (too lazy to find right now) that the graphics performance provided on the A5 is not available on any other ARM chip, and therefore not available to any Android tablets.
I stopped visiting Gizmodo long ago, and now actively try to avoid it. The quality of reporting is almost zero, with their sole existence based on getting the most page views possible (profit), traditional journalistic standards are irrelevant.
MS needs another Bill Gates. A techie with at least a little vision, not a marketing guy.
In 2001 Bill Gates stated tablets will be the "Most Popular Form of PC". MS culture of design by committee simply could not get the OS right. They were also a little ahead of their time, and did not have the hardware to build a really compelling device.
Sad to see them 10 years later seemingly trying the same strategy in OS 8 that has failed the last ten years, instead of building from the WP7 OS. I hope I'm wrong, competition is good.
The job of an Accountant or Controller is to maximize cash flow. That means taking in cash as early as possible, and paying out anything as late as possible without incurring late charges. In a for profit business this is normal. I advise giving to a reputable charity instead even if it is harder.
h.264 is an open standard, WebM patents are mostly owned by Google. Although since h.264 is a pool of patents, and many of the patents are very broad (sadly) several probably apply to WebM as well. The real push here is not for open standards, but free usage of those patents. h.264 has granted an indefinite free license to those distributing video for free. Those charging for video will likely have to pay royalties in the future whether they use h.264 or WebM (if the patent attorneys have their way). One is hardware supported, one is not. As an end user I simply want to keep watching video for free or cheap. Some business models may need adjusted accordingly.
My Yahoo mail account does not even have a dominant Reply All button, you have to use a pull down to use it. Seems a small interface change on Microsoft's part could make this a non issue.
If you read the history of Pixar, their first films were animation for the sake of animation. They found themselves fast forwarding through their own work out of shear boredom. They quickly realized no motion picture will work without a real plot.
Most people will do the right thing if given the opportunity. That means prices they can afford. Processes that do not get in the way (DRM... ahem). Companies spend so much time trying to combat the few pirates out there, they actually turn more people into pirates.
1) They have huge quantities of scale. While other manufacturers are making 100's of models, Apple focuses on a few. Easier to get great prices on millions of the same part, then to get prices on thousands of different parts with retooling in between.
2) That huge cash reserve? They are using it to hedge prices. For example they are pre-purchasing key components so that the manufacturer does not have to add in risk costs for unknown future prices. They are also sharing the cost of new manufacturing facilities as part of a contract to get better prices. Hard to compete when you can't buy components because they have bought up half the supply, leaving everyone else to fight over the other half.
3) The entire company is ran very lean, probably the biggest lean manufacturing company in existence. Since all their effort is very focused, they do not have the overhead that most other companies their size have. Check out their R & D spending versus sales. Incredible.
For those that think they are running razor thin margins to get iPad hardware sales to make it up on the back side, you do not know Apple very well. They make healthy margins on everything they do. They have even hinted that they could drop the prices on iPads if they need to and still make a lot of profit. They are a public company, check it their filings.
What your really asking is if the end of the pc era is in sight. It will not be as dominate, but still exist.
Will this toy do it? No flippin way! By Christmas it will be a footnote in history.
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We cut the cord 2-3 years ago when DirectTV support gave us fits, and don't miss it much. Ripped the kids DVD's to an old small form factor pc re-purposed as a media server with new hard drive and mild graphics card upgrade. Got a Neflix subscription for movies streaming through that same server. Put up a real antenna to pull in the networks, mainly to follow the local sports teams in gorgeous HD (better than cable). Occasionally rent a DVD from Redbox. The 3-4 times a year a great movie comes out, we go see in in the theater (Hollywood has been on a dry spell lately).
I do miss a few channels, Science, Discovery, History, H&G, and our daughter loved Animal Planet. Notice you can't get these without going to upper tier plans. I'd gladly pay them $20/ month for just those 4, but no way are we ever paying $60+ for a bunch of channels we don't watch again.
Appreciate the input, but I need the GPS to navigate, so need much better accuracy.
Good idea, but I actually wanted to use it in an aircraft. Cell phone antenna are not aimed up, and don't work well very far off the ground.
Unfortunately if I was to purchase an iPad, my choice is GPS or No GPS. I'm good with just wifi otherwise. Maybe someone will build an Android tablet with a really high quality GPS receiver and wifi? Bonus points if possible to use an external antenna.
While their at it... buy Sony, break it up, and sell of the pieces!!! (Note - stated in jest, did not actually check market caps, cash etc. to see if even possible).
Lets face it, this is a really slimy business model. For Apple to allow it is atrocious. There are much better alternatives, such as a short window to allow returns. I have kids with iOS devices, and thus hoping they win. Bad parenting? I don't have time to play every game to know its business model, but do try to stick to pay only games just to try my best to avoid them.
"Look, there's nothing Blackberry can do about it and it's not their job." Actually they have the right to say no.
"Gaming has some bonus." - Except they were not able to get most to actually play. Personally I have yet to find a flash game I want to play. I have found some rather nice Java games however.
This is a very broad subject but two things stand out in my mind, the percent of economy that represents manufacturing, and secondly that society has a system to highly train everyone for a skilled job in the workforce.
Germany has kept its manufacturing base at 24% of its economy, while the US has slowly slid to 11%. Today they have the second best trade ratio behind only China. Some believe this is mainly due to having primarily mid size family owned businesses that are stakeholders, instead of corporations.
In the US getting skilled education past high school is getting very expensive, going up much faster than inflation. There is not a solid system for skilled technical or vocational training like other (mainly European) countries.
How do you correct these 2 problems?
As the article noted, using such a huge die was strategic decision to differentiate their products. Have read (too lazy to find right now) that the graphics performance provided on the A5 is not available on any other ARM chip, and therefore not available to any Android tablets.
Is this not common traits of most billionaires?
I stopped visiting Gizmodo long ago, and now actively try to avoid it. The quality of reporting is almost zero, with their sole existence based on getting the most page views possible (profit), traditional journalistic standards are irrelevant.
MS needs another Bill Gates. A techie with at least a little vision, not a marketing guy.
In 2001 Bill Gates stated tablets will be the "Most Popular Form of PC". MS culture of design by committee simply could not get the OS right. They were also a little ahead of their time, and did not have the hardware to build a really compelling device.
Sad to see them 10 years later seemingly trying the same strategy in OS 8 that has failed the last ten years, instead of building from the WP7 OS. I hope I'm wrong, competition is good.
The job of an Accountant or Controller is to maximize cash flow. That means taking in cash as early as possible, and paying out anything as late as possible without incurring late charges. In a for profit business this is normal. I advise giving to a reputable charity instead even if it is harder.
h.264 is an open standard, WebM patents are mostly owned by Google. Although since h.264 is a pool of patents, and many of the patents are very broad (sadly) several probably apply to WebM as well. The real push here is not for open standards, but free usage of those patents. h.264 has granted an indefinite free license to those distributing video for free. Those charging for video will likely have to pay royalties in the future whether they use h.264 or WebM (if the patent attorneys have their way). One is hardware supported, one is not. As an end user I simply want to keep watching video for free or cheap. Some business models may need adjusted accordingly.
My Yahoo mail account does not even have a dominant Reply All button, you have to use a pull down to use it. Seems a small interface change on Microsoft's part could make this a non issue.
If you read the history of Pixar, their first films were animation for the sake of animation. They found themselves fast forwarding through their own work out of shear boredom. They quickly realized no motion picture will work without a real plot.
If our music standard is Bieber and Gaga, were in a serious world of hurt.
Compared to Google? Microsoft on the web space is a pussycat.
Most people will do the right thing if given the opportunity. That means prices they can afford. Processes that do not get in the way (DRM... ahem). Companies spend so much time trying to combat the few pirates out there, they actually turn more people into pirates.
Great idea. Sadly not in very many companies DNA to actually pull it off.
Yes, it is very easy actually.
1) They have huge quantities of scale. While other manufacturers are making 100's of models, Apple focuses on a few. Easier to get great prices on millions of the same part, then to get prices on thousands of different parts with retooling in between.
2) That huge cash reserve? They are using it to hedge prices. For example they are pre-purchasing key components so that the manufacturer does not have to add in risk costs for unknown future prices. They are also sharing the cost of new manufacturing facilities as part of a contract to get better prices. Hard to compete when you can't buy components because they have bought up half the supply, leaving everyone else to fight over the other half.
3) The entire company is ran very lean, probably the biggest lean manufacturing company in existence. Since all their effort is very focused, they do not have the overhead that most other companies their size have. Check out their R & D spending versus sales. Incredible.
For those that think they are running razor thin margins to get iPad hardware sales to make it up on the back side, you do not know Apple very well. They make healthy margins on everything they do. They have even hinted that they could drop the prices on iPads if they need to and still make a lot of profit. They are a public company, check it their filings.
DEAD ON. Mod this up!
What your really asking is if the end of the pc era is in sight. It will not be as dominate, but still exist. Will this toy do it? No flippin way! By Christmas it will be a footnote in history.
What degree does produce a graduate that is "Ready to go"?